Calendar
Network
Feeds
KevinNewcomb
For sarcasm to work, you need to share the punchline sooner. Reading the headline and description here gives a totally different story than the actual post, which is positive toward SES Hamburg. I get that it's linkbait/clickbait, but there's no indication that the headline is a joke.
Matt actually did give his answer...no mention of a lap dance, though: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080528-153436#comments
"Hey Frank, I wouldn't put on blinders thinking about only directories.
Some suggestions for white-hat ways to gather links in the porn space? I'd think about people like Luke Ford, Violet Blue, Tony Comstock, etc. I would also go meta and talk about the porn industry a little bit. Do a little original research. Where does the money in the porn industry go to? How much is affiliate, what % of stuff is PPI, TGP, MGP, etc. What are 15 facts about the porn industry that people didn't know before?"
Hi Danny,
Certainly Ask is spinning this in some fashion. But I have a problem with the fact that so many people wrote as "fact" that Ask was abandoning search and becoming a women's site, based on one or two mainstream news stories that may or may not have told the whole story.
I'm especially not trying to say that you don't know what you're talking about. That would be ludicrous. Obviously you've been following the space longer than anyone, and you may very well be seeing something unfold at an early stage that I'm not. But from what I could tell of your story and others, no one called Ask to get their side of the story.
I don't know how much of the published articles were said by Jim Safka, what was editorialized or misinterpreted by the reporter, or spun by the AP's editor. I think on something like this, it only makes sense to go to the source and find out yourself, and make your own judgments.
I'm not saying that Nicholas' version is entirely "fact" either. They certainly did lay off some key search folks, and they are switching strategies mid-stream, which doesn't always bode well. But his explanation does make sense. If you know you have people coming to your site looking for certain things, it's a good idea to give them what they're looking for.
That said, everyone is welcome to look at Ask.com's side and still say that Ask is dead. My goal was to present another side to the conversation, so people could make their own decisions.
Kevin
Chris outlines a proposal to set standards that don't so much tell search marketers what to do as make it clear whether what they choose to do has a certain level of risk built into it.
He suggests creating a glossary of tactics, and rating them according to the commonly agreed-upon risk level associated with their use.
Would those kinds of standards be useful for the industry? See any drawbacks to that plan?
@danieldessinger I agree with you on that. I see the value of standards as more of a set of ground rules. If someone new to the game knows what's generally safe, what's a bit risky, and what will likely get them banned, they'll at least know what they're up against.
More advanced SEOs can and should go beyond the standards. Having standards will also help educate clients about what's involved with SEO, and help them choose an SEO that offers services in line with their risk tolerance level.
I'm not in favor of setting standards that would be "rules to follow or else some governing body will punish you." I'm talking more about standards that help define commonly accepted practices.
Hi Danny,
The decision on what to link to or not link to in the SearchDay newsletter and daily headline roundups is made by me. I spend my day looking for news to add to our links, and make a quick decision on what to include and not include. I'm sure I don't include every newsworthy post on any given day, but I try to include a representative sample of posts from all kinds of sites.
I link to multiple articles on SEL almost daily, and will continue to do so when I think those articles would be interesting to our audience. We generally do not do pre-show coverage for any events, other than our own shows. If you have something newsworthy you'd like to share that is promoting an event at the same time, please do me a favor and bring to my attention and I will take a look at it.
In my personal opinion, a post saying that a show is coming up, or outlining parties at an event, is not newsworthy. Obviously, we do write about those aspects of SES events, because we are affiliated with the shows. If someone wants to get details about an SES event, they will come to our site. If someone wants to get details about an event put on by another company, they will likely go to that company's site.
As you've said, you have been able to post about the event in the SEW Forums, and you are more than welcome to do that. And also as you've said, we have become more active in Sphinn lately. I'll be the first to admit that we've made some mistakes in our approach, and we've been talking about how to approach our strategy on Sphinn and other social media sites.
Thanks,
Kevin Newcomb
I'm looking forward to seeing Fredrick. He's been globe-trotting for so long, he's like the Bigfoot of search. People claim to have spotted him here and there, but no one can confirm it. :)
As always, Frank doesn't pull any punches. :) Guess it's time for another round of "MicroYahooSoft" speculation. As Frank notes, it does make the most sense of any potential buyer.
We could take up a collection and buy it ourselves, if the stock keeps going down. :)
@Gab - that was my oversight. It's been corrected now, so i guess we'll see the answer to your question soon. :)
« previous1 next »
Story: Top 10 Benefits of Speaking at Search Engine Conferences